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Thursday, July 14, 2011

When flying rather than driving to a retreat, more thought and preparation is needed when deciding on what projects (not to mention machine and supplies) to bring due to space (and airline) limitations.

Retreat Quilt 2010

At least year's retreat, I only brought one project to work on - my aptly named Retreat Quilt which is a pattern from Material Obsession called Red Centre. (Coincidentally, classes for this quilt were going on over in Oregon during this year's retreat.) I was able to assemble most of the quilt top during that retreat, and this quilt lives with me providing comfort and warmth as well as a reminder of fabulous times and friendships made.

I wanted to do something similar this year in that the quilt made will be a memento of another glorious time retreating with friends. I gave this project quite a bit of thought and decided I wanted to make another peace sign quilt. Feeling Groovy was made for a school auction with a 70's theme, and at that time I went with batik pinwheels hoping for a tie-dye feel. For this one, I went through my fabric stash looking for something that said "Rene'" ;-) Then, I couldn't find my "pattern" for the peace sign, so I had to redo it... zoomed in on a picture of Feeling Groovy and drew from that...took the opportunity to change it a little bit too...

My quick progress with the Retreat Quilt was helped by the fact that Julie PRE-CUT and GAVE me all the fabric squares needed! This year, I didn't come close to piecing the quilt top. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure my retreat friends could even tell what I was working on!! Most of the time was spent sewing around pairs of fabric squares..cutting them diagonally twice..trimming..chain piecing half square triangles... {I'm planning a discussion on HST methods in the near future...}

A stack of pinwheel blocks is all I left with (see two photos above), but you couldn't even tell they were pinwheel blocks because I didn't have time to press them. OK..so maybe I spent too much time shopping at Gruber's...or maybe I talked too much...but I rather like to think it's because I had to leave really early Sunday instead ;-)

When I got back to Montana, I pressed open all the pinwheels (need to get me some Best Press), pulled out my handy dandy pattern, and starting arranging blocks in the shape of a peace sign. That's as far as I've gotten as I've been too busy visiting with Harper's (who brought happies)!

Here's a closeup of a few blocks. This weekend I plan to start assembling them. Can anyone guess why I'm naming this quilt Peace Love & Happiness? Really...it's not a rhetorical question...I want to know if the name makes sense to anyone besides me....so, do you know why the name? Oh, and I am open to suggestions of background fabric to use on this one.

8 comments:

It's gonna be great, and I totally understand the name. Background color . . . hmm . . . that's a stumper. I like that aqua color in your dots, but don't know if that would make them blend in too much.

I loved your first peace sign quilt (as did Mandy, Cindy, and everyone I showed the picture to). I can't wait to see how this one comes out. I know it is going to be beautiful!! I am still amazed that you worked out the pattern for it. You are the bomb ;)

So much fun! I'm terrible at working on projects with other people around- I either visit too much or am too easily distracted I guess!! I like the idea of aqua too for the background- maybe a deeper shade than the dots.

I thought the quilt you made last year was very cool, so it's fun to see it again. Good for you for only bringing one project to work on. That way, the potential for getting something done is higher. I brought a lot along so I would have choices, but too many choices cause procrastination for me. Anywho, love the fabrics you were working this on this year's retreat project!

Peace pattern, Love fabric and Happiness because you were surrounded by friends. Oh, and the Harper Happies. And I would definitely go with the fact that you and Michelle had to leave so stinkin' early on Sunday. Next time remember #2 of my recap regarding scheduling. :)

This quilt is going to be amazing! I'm in a Kona Snow kind of mode right now so that's probably what I would choose for the background. You know. To make all the "Love" pop!